Setup-screen display controlling apparatus, server apparatus, image processing system, printing apparatus, image pickup apparatus, display apparatus, setup-screen display controlling method, program, and data structure

Abstract

A setup-screen display controlling apparatus includes a sample image display controlling unit that displays a sample image in which a plurality of subject groups set for every color to be corrected are arranged on the setup screen for confirmation of a correction effect involved in adjustment of an amount of color correction; a setting-input-filed display controlling unit that displays a setting input field for the amount of color correction in the sample image; and a correspondence indicating unit that explicitly indicates the correspondence between each subject group and the corresponding setting input field for the amount of color correction in the sample image.

Description

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present invention contains subject matter related to Japanese Patent Application JP 2006-132023 filed in the Japanese Patent Office on May 10, 2006, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates to a technology to simplify setup of image quality by a user. Particularly, the present invention relates to a setup-screen display controlling apparatus, a server apparatus, an image processing system, a printing apparatus, an image pickup apparatus, a display apparatus, a setup-screen display controlling method, a program, and a data structure.[0004]2. Description of the Related Art[0005]In recent years, users have increasing opportunities to print out images taken by digital cameras. For example, there are increasing opportunities for users to print images by using, for example, self-service printing apparatuses installed at sh...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0019]According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an image pickup apparatus including an image pickup unit; a display device; a sample image display controlling unit that displays a sample image in which a plurality of subject groups set for every color to be corrected are arranged on a screen of the display device for confirmation of a correction effect involved in adjustment of an amount of color correction; a setting-input-filed display controlling unit that displays a setting input field for the amount of color correction in the sample image on the screen of the display device; a correspondence indicating unit that explicitly indicates the correspondence between each subject group and the corresponding setting input field for the amount of color correction in the sample image on the screen of the display device; and a correction information storage unit that stores the amount of color correction as additional data concerning image data that is picked up by the image pickup unit.

[0020]According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a display apparatus including a display device; a sample image display controlling unit that displays a sample image in which a plurality of subject groups set for every color to be corrected are arranged on a screen of the display device for confirmation of a correction effect involved in adjustment of an amount of color correction; a setting-input-filed display controlling unit that displays a setting input field for the amount of color correction in the sample image on the screen of the display device; a correspondence indicating unit that explicitly indicates the correspondence between each subject group and the corresponding setting input field for the amount of color correction in the sample image on the screen of the display device; a correction information storage unit that stores the amount of color correction; and an image correction unit that performs color correction to image data on the basis of the amount of color correction read out from the correction information storage unit.

[0021]According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a setup-screen display controlling method including the steps of displaying a sample image in which a plurality of subject groups set for every color to be corrected are arranged for confirmation of a correction effect involved in adjustment of an amount of color correction; displaying a setting input field for the amount of color correction in the sample image; and explicitly indicating the correspondence between each subject group and the corresponding setting input field for the amount of color correction in the sample image.

[0022]According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a program causing a computer to execute the steps of displaying a sample image in which a plurality of subject groups set for every color to be corrected are arranged for confirmation of a correction effect involved in adjustment of an amount of color correction; displaying a setting input field for the amount of color correction in the sample image; and explicitly indicating the correspondence between each subject group and the corresponding setting input field for the amount of color correction in the sample image.

[0023]According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a data structure including sample image data concerning a sample image in which a plurality of subject groups set for every color to be corrected are arranged for confirmation of a correction effect involved in adjustment of an amount of color correction; and association data used to associate each subject group with a setting input field for the amount of color correction.

[0024]According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a setup screen (user interface) with which a user can easily and properly set and input an amount of correction independently of the skill of the user.

Problems solved by technology

Consequently, the correction by using average values that are statistically set does not provide printing results most suitable for the preference of the users or the content of the image data even if print results having acceptable image qualities are provided by the correction.

However, existing correction technologies have excessively high flexibilities and, therefore, it is difficult to yield desired correction results.

However, the technology disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-234251 has problems in that it is complicated to register in advance personal information, such as the age and address of a user, and that the correction on the basis of correction items including the brightness, hue, contrast, and sharpness is not matched with the skills of users.

In other words, this technology is unkind to users who have no specialized knowledge but is too rough on users who have the specialized knowledge.

However, the control parameters are only average values preferred by many users and are not correction values optimized to the preference of each user or the content of image data.

In addition, since the control parameters are average values for the many users, there is a problem in that the users cannot confirm how their preferences are reflected in corrected images.

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